The show came after Intel issued a carefully worded statement addressing comments made by CEO Paul Otellini that Microsoft is shipping Windows 8 before it is ready.

Intel and Microsoft have a troubled history over Windows 8.

An Intel senior vice president in May 2011 revealed what we now know to be true: that Windows 8 on ARM would not run legacy Windows applications. At the time, Microsoft shot back releasing a corporate statement against its biggest chip partner, calling the comments "factually inaccurate and unfortunately misleading” but refused to provide any further comment at the time.

Windows 8 is significant for a number of reasons, one of the biggest being the Windows RT version will be the first edition of Microsoft’s client to run on ARM, breaking Microsoft’s fidelity with Intel on x86.

Dell and HP had already given a glimpse of their Windows 8 machines to punters at the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) conference, in Berlin, Germany, earlier this month. And it was Dell who revealed an ARM device, the XPS 10 is a 10-inch touch-screen.

Now, on Thursday, Dell has shown it can work both sides of the street. The company announced the Latitude 10 a 10-inch tablet running Windows 8 Professional and using Atom processor Z2760. The Latitude will come with a standalone desktop dock that adds power and charging as well as USB ports. HP also revealed that the HP Envy X2 Ultrabook it unveiled in Berlin will also use Clover Trail.

For others, tablets with detachable keyboards or keyboard docks were the flavour of the day: Acer announced the ICONIA W510 Ultrabook form factor with 10.1-inch screen and a detachable keyboard dock while ASUS announced the Vivo Tab TF810 tablet with an 11.60-inch screen and keyboard dock. ®